33 cops in abuse cases vs women

RAPISTS belong behind bars. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

A number of sexual and other abuses victimizing Filipino women had been committed by policemen, the Center for Women’s Resources (CWR) reported yesterday.

On the heels of a top Bulacan police official being accused of raping an inmate inside a police precinct, CWR said at least 33 cops are presently involved in cases of abuse against women.

The group said from January 2017 to July this year alone, 13 cases against policemen abusing women had been filed – eight for rape, three for acts of lasciviousness and one each for harassment and physical assault.

CWR executive director Jojo Guan said abuses committed by men against women transcend societal stereotyping.

“Rapists have no standard description. They can be addicts as well as state enforcers. They can be peddlers as well as politicians,” Guan said.

“Any man who thinks of women as sex objects is a potential abuser. Secondly, rape still proliferates where 75 percent of the victims are children,” he added.

In October last year, criminal and administrative charges were filed against six policemen in Olongapo City for allegedly raping and maltreating a female drug suspect inside Police Station 5.

March of this year, a seven-month pregnant woman complained of being raped in front of her two-year-old child by three cops in Bulacan, only to withdraw her complaint.

Just recently, the aforementioned top police official in Bulacan was accused of raping an inmate inside a police station.

CWR called on the general public to help fight abuses perpetrated against women.